(Updated with new information on the US radiation standard, at the bottom.)

The Oxford PhD governor strikes again, this time in New York, telling green tea lovers in the city that Shizuoka tea is safe because it has tested below the safety limit and it’s good for their health. He also reminds them that Shizuoka is very far from Fukushima.

I suppose there aren’t many green tea lovers in New York who read my blog. If they had read my blog, they could have told the governor what he was saying was plain wrong.

(Now, readers of this blog, can you spot what’s wrong with the governor’s statement?)

Governor Heita Kawakatsu of Shizuoka Prefecture joined a gathering of green tea lovers in New York on July 14 and appealed the safety of the teas grown in Shizuoka Prefecture, the largest tea producer in Japan.

A tea dealer has started a recall of the dried tea after measuring about 679 becquerels of caesium per kilogramme in leaves at a tea factory in the city of Shizuoka, prefectural officials said. The legal limit is 500 Bq/kg.

Earlier this month Japan banned the shipment of green tea leaves from all or part of four other prefectures around Tokyo – Chiba, Ibaraki, Kanagawa and Tochigi – after radioactive caesium above legal levels was found in samples.

Shizuoka prefecture will carry out sampling tests at some 100 other tea factories in the area next week, although the caesium was at a level unlikely to affect human health, the prefecture said.

It was the first detection of radiation above the legal limit in tea grown in Shizuoka prefecture, southwest of Tokyo, where some 35,000 tonnes of dried tea is produced annually.

It can’t get any better. (But that’s what I’ve thought ever since March 11 and I’ve been wrong.)

It was the proverbial “fly in the ointment” when an online food grocer (home delivery of fresh produce) alerted the Shizuoka prefectural government that one of Shizuoka’s teas tested high in radioactive cesium according to the grocer’s test. For Shizuoka, it was going to be a “clean bill of health” for all teas in Shizuoka when they started testing the final products, “seicha”. 8 tea-growing regions tested below the limit on June 8, and 11 more regions were going to do the same on June 9.

But this grocer came forward with the information that one of the teas were radioactive, exceeding the national limit. So the government was forced to test that particular tea, and it was indeed exceeding the limit.

But it was not before the prefecture told the grocer not to publish the data, because the prefectural government was already doing the minimum necessary to alert the consumer. Their words.

In other countries, this kind of arrogant behavior by the producer ignoring the safety of the consumers may result in boycott of the product.

It has been revealed that the Shizuoka prefectural government requested the online food grocer in Tokyo that the grocer not publish on the grocer’s home page the result of the test for radioactive materials in Shizuoka tea that exceeded the national provisional limit.

The ‘500 becquerels per kilogram safety government standard’ has NOTHING to do with safety. And if you have followed all my posts on the effects of low-level radiation and internal emitters & radiation, then you know exactly why.

Tea from Japan’s Shizuoka prefecture had above-standard radioactive cesium levels three months after an earthquake led to radiation leaks at a nuclear plant about 360 kilometers (224 miles) from the area.

The dried leaves had 679 becquerels of cesium per kilogram, more than the 500 becquerels per kilogram safety government standard, according to a faxed statement from the local government today. The contamination was found in leaves from the prefecture’s Warashina area, while tea produced in all 18 other areas had safe levels, based on tests conducted by tea farmers, according to the statement.

Shizuoka Governor Heita Kawakatsu last month said tests on fresh tea leaves and drinks showed they contained cesium amounts below the government safety limit. The government on June 2 decided to curb shipments of dried tea leaves containing more than 500 becquerel per kilogram of radioactive cesium and ordered a halt in deliveries from the eastern prefectures of Ibaraki, Chiba, Kanagawa and Tochigi where tainted produce was detected.

Shizuoka, which accounts for about 40 percent of the nation’s tea output and lies southwest of Tokyo, asked the farmers that produced the contaminated leaves to recall those products and halt shipments.

Japan’s tea production, including fresh and dried leaves, was worth 102.1 billion yen ($1.3 billion) in 2009, according to the agriculture ministry.

Shizuoka Prefecture on May 9, the first crop harvested as hay, Aoi-ku Shizuoka City School District, worked “Motoyama tea (Macha and the UK)” Provisional Regulations on the part of the country’s tea production (500 becquerels per gram 1 kg) announced that it has been detected more than 679 becquerels of radioactive cesium.

The Oxford PhD (in history) governor of Shizuoka, Heita Kawakatsu (pictured), changed his tunes and now says his prefecture will follow the order by the national government and test the bulk tea (“aracha”) for radioactive materials.

Why? Nobody knows. Shizuoka’s “shincha” (new tea) has already been sold and shipped, both in bulk form and in the final, blended form. “Shincha” commands a huge premium over “nibancha” (second tea).

But the tea growers in Shizuoka are furious at the governor’s flip-flop, as Shizuoka Shinbun reports (6/3/2011; original in Japanese, rough English summary):

Tea growers and wholesalers in Shizuoka expressed anger and confusion over the government’s decision to apply the provisional limit for raw tea leaves [500 becquerels/kg] to “aracha” (bulk tea).

Shizuoka Prefecture had insisted the tea was “safe”. Governor Heita Kawakatsu said on June 2, prior to the national government announcement, that half-hearted measures [like testing the bulk tea for radiation] would only amplify the fear.

I’m losing faith in the goodness and honesty of the agricultural growers in Japan, when they are organized into an association with political clout, like JA.

Shizuoka Prefecture produces over 60 percent of all green teas (final blend) produced in Japan. Right now, it’s the season for new teas (“shincha”). Some big money at stake, but recently the high level of radioactive materials was detected from tea leaves grown in Kanagawa Prefecture (east of Shizuoka) and the Ministry of Health and Welfare wants 14 tea-growing prefectures including Shizuoka to test their bulk teas before they are further roasted and blended (“aracha”).